New optimism for keeping A’s and Raiders in Oakland

November 23, 2016

After years of drift and false starts, Oakland’s hopes for finding long-term, privately financed venues for the A’s and Raiders suddenly appear to be on the rise. Neither team is anywhere close to a firm plan, but the emergence of fresh faces, new ideas — and participants with financial clout — has a chance of changing the dynamic for a city with a proud sports history and a dilapidated 50-year-old Coliseum.

Mayor Libby Schaaf announced last week that she had reached “a framework” for a potential Raiders stadium deal with a deep-pocketed group led by former 49ers and Raiders Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott. A week earlier, the A’s made an upper-management shift widely interpreted as a sign that the team was ready to hit the reset button yet again on its elusive quest for a ballpark: Out was managing partner Lew Wolff, who had adamantly dismissed the Howard Terminal site near Jack London Square as too costly and difficult to prepare. The A’s also brought in as team president Dave Kaval, who had played a key role in shepherding the construction of Avaya Stadium for the San Jose Earthquakes.

The good news for East Bay taxpayers is that all parties now involved in these potential deals accept Rule No. 1 of the game in the Bay Area: No public money should go into the building of these facilities. The A’s have been working under that premise for years, even as they pursued sites in Fremont and San Jose, and the ownership group led by John Fisher certainly has the will and the means to accomplish something — if only the team can settle on a location. If the A’s move downtown, that could lift the complicating factor of trying to build two new venues while continuing to accommodate the two teams on the Coliseum site.

The Raiders have a more challenging situation. Their owner, Mark Davis, inherited his shares from his father, and he lacks the assets, proven business savvy and corporate connections of other pro sports owners. He recently struck a deal for a potential move to Las Vegas, where a $1.9 billion domed stadium would be built with the help of a $750 million subsidy from a hotel-tax increase.

Such a giveaway would be unthinkable in Oakland, still saddled with debt from the 1995 deal to bring the Raiders back from Los Angeles. Since taking office in 2015, Schaaf has made plain that any new stadium plan would need to be fair to the team and the NFL, but would have to advance without direct public subsidy and with economic benefit beyond football.

“I’m excited to have a partner who is willing to work under those principles,” she said by phone Wednesday.

The key points of the framework with the Lott group include:

•A commitment for private financing.

•A long-term lease or sale of the Coliseum land.

•Up-front public funding of infrastructure improvements would be repaid through new revenue produced by the development — which might include hotel, retail or office space.

Schaaf added that the framework is “absolutely respectful to the A’s,” who have eight years remaining on their Coliseum lease. The Lott group also reserved a spot for a baseball-only ballpark if they chose to build there.

Time is running short on the effort to keep the Raiders in Oakland. Davis has signaled that he would ask his fellow NFL owners early next year to approve the team’s relocation to Las Vegas. He would need three-quarters of them to say OK, which is no sure thing, especially if there is a viable option in Oakland. After all, the Raiders would be going from the nation’s sixth to its 40th television market. They just might pause at the association with casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, whose group is pumping in $650 million. Also, the immensely profitable NFL would face some inevitable flak about greed and disloyalty. One can easily envision the mocking T-shirts about the Raiders: “Oakland/Los Angeles/Oakland/Las Vegas/Next?”

Besides, the Lott group envisions an open-air stadium costing about $1 billion, or $900 million less than the indoor Vegas palace. In other words, that $750 million Nevada subsidy is not about making an NFL stadium pencil out; it’s about gilding its over-the-top extravagance.

Oakland is taking the right approach. “We are slowly but surely making progress,” Schaaf said. The other 31 owners should take note, even if the one in Oakland can’t see past the allure of Sin City’s easy money.